Southern European officials struggled on Sunday to control massive wildfires in countries including Spain, Greece and France, with hundreds of deaths attributed to rising temperatures that scientists say are consistent with climate change.
In Spain, helicopters threw water on the flames, as the heat above 40º C and the mountainous terrain made it difficult for firefighters to work.
Residents shocked as they watched the thick clouds of smoke rising above the Jerte Valley in the central west said the heat was making their formerly green and cool home more akin to Spain’s semi-arid south.
“Climate change affects everyone,” said resident Miguel Angel Tamayo.
A study published in June in the journal Environmental Research: Climate concluded that it was highly likely that climate change was making heat waves worse.
At least 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the heat wave in Portugal and Spain so far. Temperatures in Spain reached 45.7 degrees Celsius during the nearly week-long heat wave.
Spain’s meteorological agency issued temperature alerts for Sunday, with highs of 42 degrees predicted in Aragon, Navarra and La Rioja in the north.
He said the heat wave would end on Monday, but warned that temperatures would remain “abnormally high”.
The fires hit several other regions including Castile and Leon in central Spain and Galicia in the north on Sunday afternoon. In the province of Malaga in southern Spain, wildfires raged through the night, affecting locals near Mijas, a town popular with tourists from northern Europe.
British retirees William and Ellen McCurdy fled to safety with other evacuees at a local sports center from their home on Saturday as the blaze approached.
“It was too fast… I didn’t take it too seriously. I thought they had it under control and I was quite surprised when it seemed to be moving towards us,” William, 68, told Reuters.
“We just grabbed a few essentials and ran, and at this stage, everyone on the street was on the move,” Ellen said.
In France, forest fires have already spread over 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) in the southwestern Gironde region, and more than 14,000 people have been evacuated, regional officials said Sunday afternoon.
More than 1,200 firefighters were trying to control the blaze, officials said in a statement.
France has issued the highest possible red alerts for several regions, with residents urged to “be extremely vigilant”.
In Italy, where smaller fires have raged in recent days, meteorologists expect temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in several regions in the coming days.
Similar temperatures are forecast in Britain on Monday and Tuesday, which would surpass a previous official record of 38.7C set in Cambridge in 2019.
Britain’s national meteorologist has issued its first “extreme heat” red alert for parts of England. Rail passengers were advised to travel only if absolutely necessary and to expect widespread delays and cancellations.
Hundreds of dead in Portugal
Portugal’s Ministry of Health said late on Saturday that in the last seven days 659 people had died from the heat wave, most of them elderly.
The weekly peak of 440 deaths was on Thursday, when temperatures exceeded 40º C in several regions and 47º C at a meteorological station in the district of Vizeu, in the center of the country.
As of Saturday, there were 360 heat-related deaths in Spain, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute.
Portugal faces extreme drought – with 96% of the continent in severe or extreme drought at the end of June, before the recent heat wave, according to data from the national meteorology institute.
Commander of the Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, André Fernandes, urged people to be careful not to light new fires in such dry conditions.
In Greece, the fire brigade said on Saturday that 71 fires had started in a 24-hour period. Local fire brigade officials on the island of Crete said on Sunday that a fire raging through the forest and farmland had been partially contained.
Source: CNN Brasil
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